Pedestrian Fatality in Corral Canyon Is under Investigation

• CHP Says No Evidence of Speeding

BY BILL KOENEKER

The death of a longtime local resident hit by a vehicle on Corral Canyon Road last Tuesday night while he was on foot is still under investigation, according to authorities.
Ted Beason, who was walking southbound along the mountain road with his dog Ace, was struck by Kathy Leigh Willis. Willis also was traveling southbound when she hit the 44-year-old man, said California Highway Patrol officer Leland Tang. The dog was not hit.
Tang said Willis told CHP investigators that Beason “for reasons unknown” stepped into the path of her vehicle.
“[Beason’s] story [will have to come from] the evidence,” said Tang, who indicated investigators are trying to piece together the details of the incident to determine what may have happened.
“We don’t know. We are trying to figure out what happened. We don’t know if she swerved. We know she was not speeding. We don’t know if she was distracted,” Tang said.
The CHP spokesperson confirmed that Willis has not been charged. “We have to prove there is gross negligence. There is no [apparent] violation of law,” the public information officer said.
Tang explained investigators are still attempting to figure out where Beason was walking from and to. “We are still trying to figure out where he was going,” he noted.
Investigators are expected to in terview residents in the area of the accident scene who claim they spoke to the driver right after she hit Beason and say they were present when paramedics arrived.
Investigators are also still gathering physical evidence. “We are going to try to recreate it. But we can’t be 100 percent certain,” Tang said.
Tang said Beason was walking with traffic. “We always tell people to walk against traffic,” he said.
Willis is the executive director of the Malibu Beach Recovery Center, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility, which has a recovery house located on Corral Canyon Road.